Contextualized analytics platform

ABSTRACT

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-implemented method, wherein the computer is operable between a management server and at least one cloud server providing a cloud service, the method comprising: collecting management data related to the cloud service through a standard protocol for network management, wherein the standard protocol allows communication of the management data via a designated port; and sending at least part of the management data to the management server.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to data processing and communications,and particularly, to data collection in cloud computing environments.

Hybrid cloud is a cloud computing environment which uses a mix ofprivate cloud and public cloud services with cooperation between the twokinds of platforms. Now days, hybrid cloud is widely used to providegreater flexibility and more data deployment options.

The management of resources is important for providing high qualitycloud computing services. In a cloud environment, either a public cloudor a private cloud, usually there are many different kinds of resourcesincluding physical resources from different provision technology,virtual resources from different virtualization technology, networkresources, storage resources, software and licenses etc. As a key pointto manage these resources, the management system must collectinformation of the resources. Therefore, it is desirable to provide aneffective solution for collecting management data in cloud environments.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda computer-implemented method, wherein the computer is operable betweena management server and at least one cloud server providing a cloudservice, the method comprising: collecting management data related tothe cloud service through a standard protocol for network management,wherein the standard protocol allows communication of the managementdata via a designated port; and sending at least part of the managementdata to the management server.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a system. A system comprises a computer which is operablebetween a management server and at least one cloud server providing acloud service, the computer comprising one or more processors; a memorycoupled to at least one of the processors; a set of computer programinstructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of theprocessors in order to perform actions of: collecting management datarelated to the cloud service through a standard protocol for networkmanagement, wherein the standard protocol allows communication of themanagement data via a designated port; and sending at least part of themanagement data to the management server.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a computer program. The computer program comprising a computerreadable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith,wherein the computer is operable between a management server and atleast one cloud server providing a cloud service, the programinstructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:collect management data related to the cloud service through a standardprotocol for network management, wherein the standard protocol allowscommunication of the management data via a designated port; and send atleast part of the management data to the management server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some embodiments of the presentdisclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects,features and advantages of the present disclosure will become moreapparent, wherein the same reference generally refers to the samecomponents in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary computer system which is applicable toimplement some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts a hybrid cloud system according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary communication framework according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary hybrid cloud MIB structure according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 depicts the process of management data collection in a hybridcloud system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the process of management data collectionaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some preferable embodiments will be described in more detail withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which the preferableembodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated. However,the present disclosure can be implemented in various manners, and thusshould not be construed to be limited to the embodiments disclosedherein. On the contrary, those embodiments are provided for the thoroughand complete understanding of the present disclosure, and completelyconveying the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in theart.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present disclosure are capable of being implementedin conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows: On-demand self-service: a cloud consumercan unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server timeand network storage, as needed automatically without requiring humaninteraction with the service's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows: Software as a Service (SaaS): thecapability provided to the consumer is to use the provider'sapplications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications areaccessible from various client devices through a thin client interfacesuch as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail). The consumer does notmanage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network,servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual applicationcapabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specificapplication configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows: Private cloud: the cloudinfrastructure is operated solely for an organization. It may be managedby the organization or a third party and may exist on-premises oroff-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a schematic of an example of a cloud computingnode is shown. Cloud computing node 10 is only one example of a suitablecloud computing node and is not intended to suggest any limitation as tothe scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the disclosuredescribed herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 10 is capable ofbeing implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forthhereinabove.

In cloud computing node 10 there is a computer system/server 12, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 12 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer system/server 12 in cloud computing node 10is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limitedto, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28,and a bus 18 that couples various system components including systemmemory 28 to processor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the disclosure.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the disclosure as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more externaldevices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24, etc.;one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 12. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data collection methodthat collects management data of resources in at least one privatenetwork and sends at least part of the management data to a managementserver in a management network, and which provides enhanced security andefficiency for a hybrid cloud environment.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 2) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of thedisclosure are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layersand corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in oneexample IBM® zSeries® systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)architecture based servers, in one example IBM pSeries® systems; IBMxSeries® systems; IBM BladeCenter® systems; storage devices; networksand networking components. Examples of software components includenetwork application server software, in one example IBM WebSphere®application server software; and database software, in one example IBMDB2® database software. (IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, BladeCenter,WebSphere, and DB2 are trademarks of International Business MachinesCorporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide).

Virtualization layer 62 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 64 may provide examples offunctionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized.Examples of management and functions which may be provided from thislayer include: Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricingprovide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA. As mentioned above, all of the foregoingexamples described with respect to FIG. 3 are illustrative only, and thedisclosure is not limited to these examples.

t is understood all functions of the present disclosure as describedherein typically may be performed by management data collectionfunction/engine, which can be tangibly embodied as modules of programcode 42 of management data collection program/utility/engine 40 (FIG.1).

Workloads layer 66 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transactionprocessing; and other applications.

As discussed above, the management of resources is important forproviding high quality cloud computing services. Collection ofmanagement information for the resources is the starting point formanagement. The term “management data” here may comprise metrics data,status data, and any other types of data that are useful for management.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary system for data collection in a hybrid cloudenvironment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Asshown in FIG. 4, the system comprises a management server 401 and aplurality of servers 403 operably connected to the private network 1 or2. The servers 403 may function as nodes in the cloud system, forexample, as any of the nodes 10 in the cloud computing environment 50,as described above with FIG. 2.

The management server 401 located at the management network 1 is thecentral management point of the hybrid cloud system. An administrator ofthe cloud system may access the management server 401 to view andcontrol the managed objects in the hybrid cloud system. Generally, thereare more components which work as a resource scheduler (not shown) forscheduling the resources of the cloud system. The resource scheduler canprovide dynamic resource management for cloud environments to optimizebusiness agility and reduce cost of cloud ownership. In this embodiment,the resource scheduler typically allocates resources according to themanagement data which collected from the servers 403. Details ofresource scheduling have been described, inter alia, by Jeff Shiver inhis article entitled “Using Metrics to Influence Planning and SchedulingBehaviors”(http://reliabilityweb.com/index.php/articles/Using_Metrics_to_Influence_Planning_and_Scheduling_Behaviors/),which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

One conventional data collection technique is adding an agent moduleinto the managed object, for example, a cloud server. The agent modulecollects information about performances, capacities and availabilitiesof the resources, and sending the information to a management server vianetwork. However, a disadvantage of this solution is that, when themanaged object is in a private network, the agent module may be unableto talk with the management server which is placed in a managementnetwork. The problem will be more serious if there are multiple privatenetworks in a hybrid cloud environment.

As an exemplary solution to solve the problem, the system in FIG. 4further comprises and two hybrid cloud agents 402. The two hybrid cloudagents 402 are operably connected to the management network 1 and, tothe private networks 201 and 202 respectively. The machine on which ahybrid cloud agent 402 is running has two network interface cards(NICs). One of the NICs connects to the management network and the otherconnects to the private network. Another problem in conventionaltechniques is that an agent module usually needs an exclusive port tocommunicate with the management server. This often risks the security offirewalls. When the port number changes during runtime phase, it isdifficult to maintain the level of security for the whole system.

The hybrid cloud agents 402 are management nodes in the privatenetworks, which can run different actions such as virtual machine (VM)operations, volume operations and so on. But basically, the hybrid cloudagent 402 is configured to collect management data with respect to themanaged objects in the private network. With the help of hybrid SNMPlibrary 404 at each cloud server 403, the hybrid cloud agent 402 maycollect the management data from the cloud server 403 via SNMP messages,which will be described in more detail below.

Moreover, the communication between the hybrid cloud agent 402 and thecloud server 403 is implemented through exchanging SNMP messages. AnSNMP message takes the form of a Protocol Data Unit (PDU), basically afancy word for packet. The common SNMP messages are as follows:

GetRequest, which obtains one or more parameter values from a SNMPagent;

GetNextRequest, which obtains the next parameter values of the obtainedone or more parameter values from the SNMP agent;

Set, which sets one or more parameter values of a SNMP agent;

Response, which is returned by a SNMP agent in response to at least oneof the above three operations;

Trap is the only PDU sent by an SNMP agent on its own initiative. It isused to notify an unusual event that may demand further attention.

SNMP protocol uses the default UDP port 161 for general SNMP messages,such as GetRequest, GetNextRequest, Set, Response, and uses UDP port 162for SNMP trap messages. According to the exemplary architecture shown inFIG. 3, an exclusive port between the hybrid cloud agent 402 and thecloud server 403 is not necessary anymore.

As shown in FIG. 4, the cloud servers 403 are installed with SNMPservices. As well known in the art, simple network management protocol(SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IPnetworks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches,servers, workstations, printers, modem racks and more. SNMP is widelyused in network management systems to monitor network-attached devicesfor conditions that warrant administrative attention. SNMP is acomponent of the Internet Protocol Suite as defined by the InternetEngineering Task Force (IETF). It consists of a set of standards fornetwork management, including an application layer protocol, a databaseschema, and a set of data objects.

SNMP exposes management data in the form of variables on the managedsystems, which describe the system configuration. These variables canthen be queried (and sometimes set) by managing applications. In typicaluses of SNMP one or more administrative computers, called managers, havethe task of monitoring or managing a group of hosts or devices on acomputer network. Each managed system executes, at all times, a softwarecomponent called an SNMP agent which reports information via SNMP to themanager.

In this embodiment, the SNMP service of the cloud servers 403 cansupport SNMP and function as SNMP agents. Additionally, the SNMPservices of the servers 403 are extended to collect cloud-relatedinformation. This is done by the hybrid SNMP library 404, which is adynamic link library (DLL). The hybrid SNMP library 404 is loaded whenan SNMP service starts on the managed object 403. When the SNMP servicehas started on the managed object 403, the hybrid SNMP library 404 willcollect relevant management data as defined in an MIB. More detailsabout the MIB and the hybrid SNMP library 404 will be described below.

In this way, there is no need to launch a new agent process on themanaged objects, as it has become a part of the SNMP process. In otherwords, it exists in the SNMP process together. Therefore, a user can dosecurity configuration for SNMP process via firewall and theconfiguration SNMP service itself as normal. The administrators of theprivate network 1 or 2 can monitor and control the behavior of the SNMPservices at the servers 403, just as what they do when managing a normalSNMP agent. No exclusive port number is necessary for the datacollection. In this way, security mechanism may be used without breakingthe safety of a firewall.

As shown in FIG. 4, the collected management data are sent from the SNMPservices to one of the hybrid cloud agents 402 via its private networkconnection (as indicated by arrow 3). In this embodiment, security modelof SNMP v3 may be used to enhance the safety of communications betweenthe SNMP services and the hybrid cloud agent 402.

After receiving the management data collected from the servers 403, thehybrid cloud agents 402 send at least part of the management data to themanagement server 401 via their connections to the management network.In this embodiment, the management data are sent via a secured channel,in which the management data are encrypted.

In this embodiment, a hierarchy is formed by the management server,hybrid cloud agents and SNMP services. In this hierarchical structure,the hybrid cloud agents are in the middle layer, working as managementnodes. They can collect management data of the managed objects in theprivate networks and send the data to the central management server. Itis understood that the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4 is merelyfor illustration. The actual structure of implementation may varyaccording to actual situations. For example, when the number of managedobjects increases, there may be more than two hybrid cloud agents 402.They may form layers, as the number increases. That is, the middle-layerof hybrid cloud agents may be consisted of multiple layers. The hybridcloud agents of a lower level may report to their master agents on anupper level respectively.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary communication framework based on SNMPaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. SNMP is a protocolon top of user datagram protocol (UDP). SNMP agents expose managementdata on the managed systems as variables. The protocol also permitsactive management tasks, such as modifying and applying a newconfiguration through remote modification of these variables. Thevariables accessible via SNMP are organized in hierarchies. Thesehierarchies, and other metadata (such as type and description of thevariable), are described by Management Information Bases (MIBs).

In the configuration shown in FIG. 5, the hybrid cloud agent 402functionally comprises an SNMP manager and a hybrid cloud agentapplication. The managed object 403 functionally comprises an SNMPservice extended with a hybrid SNMP library 404. The SNMP service actingas an SNMP agent exposes management data in the form of variables on themanaged objects 404. These variables can then be queried and sometimesset by the SNMP manager of the hybrid cloud agent 402. As describedabove, the hybrid SNMP library 404 is an extension of SNMP in the formof DLL. For example, Microsoft Windows has implemented SNMP in twoservices: SNMP.EXE and SNMPTRAP.EXE. It also allows extended DLLs towork along with the services.

The arrowed lines 501 and 502 show the process of SNMP GetRequest, whichis a manager-to-agent request to retrieve the value of a variable orlist of variables. Specifically, the lines 501 show the flow of requestmessage. First, the hybrid cloud agent 402 may initiate a requestmessage either on its own behalf or following the management server'sinstruction. Then, the message is passed to the SNMP manager, whichsends it to the SNMP service of the managed object 403 via UDP/IPpackages. When the SNMP service (acting as an SNMP agent) of the managedobject 403 gets the message request, it will ask the hybrid SNMP library404 to prepare the response data. When the response data is ready, itwill send them back via a response SNMP message, as indicated by thelines 502.

The arrowed lines 503 show the process of SNMP Trap, which enables theSNMP service of the managed object 403 to notify the hybrid cloud agent402 of certain events by way of an unsolicited SNMP message. Forexample, when the SNMP service is started on the managed object 403, atrap message which contains IP address and static metric data can besent to the hybrid cloud agent 402. Thus, the hybrid cloud agent 402 canstart collecting metrics data of the managed object 403 via SNMPoperations. Moreover, when the IP address of the managed object 403 ischanged, a trap message will be sent again to the hybrid cloud agent402. After resolving the IP address from the trap message, the hybridcloud agent 402 will report the updated IP to the management server 401.

In this embodiment, the communications between the SNMP service and thehybrid cloud agent can be performed via SNMP v3. It is known that SNMPv3 employs RFC 3414 user-based security model (USM) and supports threesecurity levels. SNMP v3 can be used to enforce the security of the SNMPmessages transmitted between the hybrid cloud agent 402 and the SNMPservice.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary MIB that the hybrid SNMP library is configuredto work with according to an embodiment. A management information base(MIB) 601 is a database used for managing the objects in acommunications network. While intended to refer to the completecollection of management information available on an object, it is oftenused to refer to a particular subset, more correctly referred to asMIB-module.

As shown in FIG. 6, the hybrid cloud MIB comprises a hierarchicalstructure, in which each entry is addressed through an object identifier(OID). In a hybrid cloud system, there may be a large scale ofmanagement data to be collected, which may cause bottleneck in theserver. For efficiency, the data in MIB are divided into two categories:static data group 602 and dynamic data group 603. The data in staticdata group 602 comprises information about basic configuration. Theyusually do not change during the runtime phase of a hybrid cloud library(i.e. an SNMP service). The static data may include, but is not limitedto, CPU core number, CPU threads, CPU HZ, total size of MEM table, totalsize/partitions/mount points of disk, MAC address, option/OS setup ofBIOS, status of firewall, vendor/version of OS, status/expire date oflicenses, etc. On the other hand, the data in dynamic data group 603 maychange from time to time. Examples of the dynamic data may include, butis not limited to, CPU utilization, free memory, I/O, free disk,firewall rules, hostname, etc.

As described above, when the SNMP service is started, the static datawill be collected and proactively sent to the hybrid cloud agent 402 viaSNMP trap message. In this embodiment, after that, the static data willnot be sent until the restart of the SNMP service or certain triggerevents, such as change of IP address.

To further improve efficiency, the hybrid cloud agent 402 does not querythe dynamic data all the time. It is know that some of the dynamic data(e.g. CPU utilization) changes frequently while others may change lessoften (e.g. OS hostname). In this embodiment, when the hybrid cloudagent 402 queries the dynamic data, it works in four threads ofdifferent frequencies—“1 minute”, “10 minutes”, “30 minutes”, and “1hour”. For example, “CPU utilization” may be queried every 1 minute;“free disk” may be queried every 10 minutes; “firewall rules” may bequeried every 30 minute; and “OS hostname” may be queried every 1 hour.

FIG. 7 depicts the process of data collection according to anembodiment. In this embodiment, the managed objects are transparent tothe management server 401 at the very beginning. When an SNMP service isfirstly started on a managed object 403 (not shown), a trap messagecontaining IP address and static metric data about the managed object403 is sent to the hybrid cloud agent 402 at step 701. In addition toforwarding the static metric data to the management server 401 (step702), the hybrid cloud agent 402 collects metrics data of the managedobject through SNMP operations (step 704). As described above, thehybrid cloud agent 402 may query dynamic data with differentfrequencies. When receiving and resolving the dynamic metrics data, thehybrid cloud agent 402 send them to the management server 401.

Further, if the managed object's IP address changes, this will triggeran SNMP trap message to the hybrid cloud agent 402 (step 706) informingthe change. After the hybrid cloud agent 402 resolves the IP address, itwill report the updated IP address to the management server 401.

It is noted that the hybrid cloud agent 402 may receive more dynamicdata responses or trap messages. The sequence of steps 704-707 is onlyfor demonstration.

FIG. 8 shows the process of data collection according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. For brevity, the descriptions of those stepsand components similar to the above embodiments are omitted below.

As shown in FIG. 8, at step 801, the hybrid cloud agent 402 collectsmanagement data of the managed object. As described above, this step cancomprise receiving a trap message containing static data and IP, aresponse message containing requested data, a trap message containing anupdated IP, and any combinations of them. The hybrid cloud agent 402 mayalso receive management data from multiple managed objects.

Then, at step 802, the hybrid cloud agent 402 may aggregate and/orfilter the collected data. For example, the hybrid cloud agent 402 mayreceived multiple response or trap messages from multiple managedobjects 403. In this embodiment, the hybrid cloud agent 402 mayaggregate and filter the collected data before sending to the managementserver 401. This can avoid unnecessary data transmission and reduce thetraffic in the management network and the workload of the managementserver 401. In order to add a filter module (not shown) in the hybridcloud agent 402, one or more filtering rules are specified. For example,a filtering rule may be set based on the Object Identifiers OIDdesignated for a request message or a response message, or based on thevalue field in a response message.

Specifically, when using a common packet analyzer wireshark as a SNMPfilter, if want to filter the data in a response message containing avalue field with the type of OID and a value“1.3.6.1.4.1.6387.400.10.16”, the filtering rule would be“snmp.value.oid==1.3.6.1.4.1.6387.400.10.16”. And if want to filter thedata in a response message containing a value field with the type ofOctetString and the value having the initial “m”, the filtering rulewould be “snmp.value.octets matches “{circumflex over ( )}m””. It shouldbe understood that the exemplary filtering rules are merely forillustration and embodiments of the present disclosure are capable ofbeing implemented in conjunction with any other type of filteringtechniques now known or later developed.

At step 803, the hybrid cloud agent 402 may encrypt the data to bereported to the management server 401. For example, this can be done byVPN or PGP. At step 804, the hybrid cloud agent 402 send the managementdata to the management server 401.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present disclosurehave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising a computer operable in ahybrid cloud environment comprising a management server on a managementnetwork and at least one cloud server on a private network, the cloudserver providing, via the computer, a cloud service to the managementnetwork, the computer comprising: one or more processors; a firstnetwork interface card connected to the management network; a secondnetwork interface card connected to the private network; anon-transitory memory coupled to at least one of the processors; a setof computer program instructions stored in the memory and executed by atleast one of the processors in order to perform actions of: collectingby a hybrid cloud agent outside of the private network, from the atleast one cloud server on the private network, management data relatedto the cloud service through a standard protocol for network management,the standard protocol providing for executing one or more agents, andwherein the standard protocol allows communication of the managementdata via a designated non-exclusive port, and wherein the managementdata is collected by the hybrid cloud agent via the second networkinterface card, and wherein the management data comprises static dataand dynamic data in a management information base, and wherein thedynamic data are classified into a plurality of categories which arecollected within different time intervals; and sending, by the hybridcloud agent via the first network interface card, at least part of themanagement data to the management server on the management network. 2.The system according to claim 1, wherein the management data comprise atleast one of metrics and status information about the at least one cloudserver providing the cloud service.
 3. The system according to claim 1,wherein the action of collecting further comprising: receiving thestatic data in the management data through a notification about changeof the at least one cloud server being reported by protocol agent whichis configured to collect the management data from the at least one cloudserver; and requesting and receiving the dynamic data in the managementdata from the protocol agent.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein themanagement data is collected via a private network channel, and whereinthe at least part of the management data is sent to the managementserver via a management network channel.
 5. A computer programcomprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium havingprogram instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer isoperable in a hybrid cloud environment comprising a management server ona management network and at least one cloud server on a private network,the cloud server providing, via the computer, a cloud service to themanagement network, and wherein the computer is connected to themanagement network via a first network interface card and the privatenetwork via a second network interface card, the program instructionsexecutable by a processor to cause the processor to: collect by a hybridcloud agent outside of the private network, from the at least one cloudserver on the private network, management data related to the cloudservice through a standard protocol for network management, the standardprotocol providing for executing one or more agents, and wherein thestandard protocol allows communication allows communication of themanagement data via a designated non-exclusive port, and wherein themanagement data is collected by the hybrid cloud agent via the secondnetwork interface card, and wherein the management data comprises staticdata and dynamic data in a management information base, and wherein thedynamic data are classified into a plurality of categories which arecollected within different time intervals; and send, by the hybrid cloudagent via the first network interface card, at least part of themanagement data to the management server on the management network. 6.The computer program according to claim 5, wherein the management datacomprise at least one of metrics information and status informationabout the at least one cloud server.
 7. The computer program accordingto claim 5, wherein causing the processor to collect management datafurther comprises causing the processor to: receive the static data inthe management data through a notification about change of the at leastone cloud server being reported by a protocol agent which is configuredto collect the management data from the at least one cloud server; andrequest and receive the dynamic data in the management data from theprotocol agent.
 8. The computer program of claim 5, wherein themanagement data is collected via a private network channel, and whereinthe at least part of the management data is sent to the managementserver via a management network channel.